and took the men of elijah and fell from it and said where is the lord of eliza? and all so he elijah went over. and jericho saw him, they said the spirit of elijah on elijah and they came and followed themselves underground before him. this is the word of god. ♪ ♪

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♪ >> the republic of south africa, jacob zuma, your excellencies, of state, your majesty's and royal highnesses, and the mandela family, fellow south africans, distinguished guests, compatriots and friends, from god, our creator and sustainer.

our heartfelt condolences to the mandela family. we owe you all a sincere debt of gratitude for sharing your husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather with us and with the world. thank you. the book of ecclesiastes, eloquent flames, there is a time for everything and this season for activity under the sun, a time to be born and the time to die, a time to plant, and a time to up route, a time to wheat and a time to laugh, a time to mourn

and a time to dance, a time to mend, a time to be silent and the time to speak. we'd hour heads, you have given and you have taken away. let us speak the name of the lord. at some time or another, each and every one of us have experienced grief board journeyed through the valley of the shadow of death. death and sorrow are no strangers to us. from the moment we are born when we open our eyes.

and our last breath, death is with us. we gather today in thanksgiving to god but millions of south africans around the world, and honor true patriots and one of the greatest statesman of the century. so i-man who inspires, up reaffirm with job, you have given, you have given us a modern profit who spoke with courage and conviction. you gave us one purified through suffering through brutalized and battered humanity.

you gave us a transformational leader in the march to freedom. you gave us a father of the south african nation. a colossus of among world leaders. a friend to all and an enemy to none. you gave us one who proclaimed that a different world is possible. you gave us nelson mandela, who stood as collective conscience of a people and achieved what many thought impossible. and a beacon of light, a lodestar in many generations yet to come and that brings us here

today, not so much grief but law. it is love for the mandela family's that has made us come from all quarters of south africa and around the globe. the encouraging words, the sympathy cards and messages of condolence and tribute, the praise and your presence here today are all expressions of that love. these were as extraordinary as life itself. he lived life to the full list and as we reflect and try to make sense of it we are reminded that people -- they do not die, if they continued to live in the

hearts and minds of people, inspiring the noble virtues and devotions, and for this reason i want to reflect very briefly on one of the utmost remarkable stories recorded in all the sacred texts of the abraham extradition, a jewish christian and muslim scriptures, the story of elisha, the profit who was fundamental from his generation, and not just fundamental but so that the new generation can do greater this thing and sand i want us to look briefly at the

fundamentals that is passed on. and the narrative from scripture, really read the stories of the last days of the great profits elijah who is about to leave this world behind and go into glory in a spectacular way with chariots of fire. the example, the one who hit the ball, all those in the prophetic tradition. and the meeting takes place, the place the children of israel came after they crossed the river jordan. it was with joshua, 12 stones what god had done in delivering

israel from slavery after 40 years of wandering, the place where it had begun. we too it is right here in the national bank stadium because nelson mandela, more than 80,000 people who'd gathered in 1990 to hear him speak. and to pay our last respects to one of our most charismatic leaders when he was detonated. it was here in the stadium we did our last farewells, we

gather here when our young democracy was berthed through the model leadership, the power of nelson mandela's ideals, and his humanity. since childhood i was deeply inspired and fascinated by the british author and nobel laureate kipling, and his poem which is dedicated to his son which has some of the characteristics of nelson mandela's life and i will try to put the last stanza of that poem. you can keep your virtue, lose the common touch, no loving friend can hurt you. if all mankind is with you, none too much.

if you can fold the and forgiven minutes with 60 seconds long distance run, everything that is in it, you will be a man, my son. if i may take the liberty of amending the last one, and say which is more, you will be more like nelson mandela, my daughter, my son. and to the aspiration. founding father of democracy in south africa you saved us from the horrors of apartheid. from the ruins of white-minority rule. in scripture and cultural tradition, a river symbolizes the crossing, a time of

transition, a time of ritual cleansing, a time of purification, a time when one move from one phase of life to the next, a time when something dramatic happens, this can become such a time when we as the people rise to the challenge of allowing mandela's memo read to be woven into every facet of our lives, our nation and our world. the profit took off of his mantle, a mantle which was the symbol of perfect authority, and he wrapped each one around and smoked the waters of the jordan and we are told it is divided.

that is reminiscent of moses, reached out for his staff, a symbol of authority which divided the red sea through which the former slaves, the pursuers, the egyptian and war horses were engulfed in the waters which closed behind them. moses had the red sea. and crossed today to begin an era after mandela. the we laborer has been taken home to join god almighty. and no longer with us but belongs to the ages.

on the other side of the river jordan, elijah, where we could do before the departure and the elijah, like solomon did not ask for fame or wealth or position all along life but a double is

not easy generations a has traveled with the great profit, statesman, gentle, have we not breezed? the thing is others will only read about him in years to come. we are his heirs. we are his sons and daughters, we are progeny, we are the harbingers of hope for the future, we have been in doubt with the privilege to take his legacy further. he has fallen and it is in our

hands. two things are important to note. it is not passed on. it drops and elijah make a conscious decision to pick it up as a symbol of responsibility, service, and sacrifice. and pick it up. and where is the daughter of the elijah? the god that demonstrated liberation in the history of israel. where's the god of elisha that guided and inspired the profits? where is the daughter of elisha that destroyed the mighty

profit? today some of us may cry, where is the god of mandela who picked his mortal comfort, that gave the bullets to work for reconciliation and justice, that earned the personal trust of south african global leaders alike, the god that helped, the rainbow nation. it is not enough just to have the mantle in your hand. it is not enough, the name mandela. it is not enough just to be a member of the ruling party, not enough to be an official in government to continue the legacy of this man. the mantle can be picked up by

all of us and we can and we must in his legacy of selfless sacrifice and service. who lived and inspired elisha, throughout the ages, the god inspired mandela. it is remembered that god is near to us. pick up the mantle. be prepared to strike the water. south that africa and our leaders, to get a double portion of god's blessing. elijah with the greatest interest performing miracles but

he elijah performed double, reaped the fruits by mandela. do not get weary of doing good. in the perfect time this we will reap the harvest. [applause] >> let us go on doing good. today god urges us. and lead mandela on his way to the kingdom. amen. [applause]

>> the rev. thank you for a wonderful ceremony that reminds us very well of the life of nelson mandela. thank you very much. we have a number of other people we would like to thank for participating, being part of this memorial service and the number of them are from international organizations who have trouble from various parts of the world to be here to

remember nelson mandela. there are also a number of passes from various other countries in the world many of whom worked when he was president when he was doing a number of other things after he retired from the presidency. they are here in large numbers and we would like to thank them for coming to help us and many of them had their own moments and we will cherish the stories in time to come. and other people, who made life

a lot easier. the medical team that looked after him to the end of his life. and we pay at great deal, and we looked out with the villages, commitments and we say very much thank you to the medical team, for all the work that they did, let's give them a round of applause. we also want to thank the security team that was dedicated to looking after mandela throughout this drive as president. many of them have remained with you and we thank them for looking at a bus, securing his

safety and making sure they eased his way around the world as they moved around. we want to thank the household staff, that people look after him at home, who watched his clothes, clean his room and looked after him on a day-to-day basis. let us also give them a round of applause for the wonderful work that they did. lastly but not least, we thank the entire mandela family for having looked after our father for having made sure he remains strong to deliver the type of leadership he delivered. we thank you all, the mandela

family, for having given him into the nation for having given him to the world's, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. i am now going to call upon the premier of the province to thank everyone and thereafter will ask archbishop desmond tutu to give us the benediction and that will bring this to an end. the premier of the province. >> long lived president nelson mandela! thank you very much. his excellency, president jacob

zuma, the delegation. fellow south africans, let me take this opportunity to thank the presidents of south africa. for there good response you have shown after the president announced the passing on of the world's icahn. thank you. let me also take this opportunity to thank the faith based organizations that have been with us and presided over it today's program and to say mandela is in heaven and has found the branch of the african

national congress. long live mandela. i also want to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of view who have braved the this weather in the spirit of nelson mandela. and all of us, let us continue to take a leap from his life. and -- funds respect and cooperate and ensure, out of this state in an organized and coordinated manner. and continue doing the work.

end and the nelson of -- nelson mandela. and thank you. [[speaking in native tongue] >> let us gather as we lay mandela to rest in the next few days. may god bless africa, may god bless the south african government, may god bless the human race. long lived rent the spirit of nelson mandela. [speaking in native tongue] >> all powers! thank you. ..

[speaking in native tongue] >> now i want to show the world we can come out yet to celebrate the life of an extraordinary icon and. we want to say thank you etna.

and that we asked businesses, and so want to hear a pin drop. >> david winnick eight

>> [speaking in native tongue] >> we thank you and we promise you, we promise you. we promised god that we are going to follow the example of

nelson mandela. [applause] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] [speaking in native tongue] >> amen. polk a. thank you very much. that brings us to an end of the memorial service. we thank everyone and we wish

everyone a wonderful journey. thank you for those that have come from the various lands overseas for coming to south africa to help us honor nelson mandela and we thank each and every one of view. farewell, we barry nelson mandela on sunday. thank you so much for this support you have given to our father, nelson mandela and i would like to thank all the heads of state who are here and on stage for undertaking the trouble to come. thank you. long live nelson mandela. long live nelson mandela, long live. thank you and good bye. ♪

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♪ >> when adding up coverage of the memorial for nelson mandela, the first of ten days of tribute and stairwells to the former south african president who passed away at the age of 95. his funeral be on december 15th. if you missed our coverage we will rear highlights tonight beginning at 8:00 eastern on c-span2 or you can watch any time on line at c-span.org. here's how the new york times is covering the story. tens of thousands of people streamed into a huge soccer stadium tuesday with the leaders and celebrities from a round world braving heavy rain to pay

tribute to nelson mandela the man who inspired the struggle against apartheid from his prison cell. there was no way i was not going to be here, if it wasn't for nelson mandela i would not be here live in a life of freedom i lived. as people continue to file out of the stadium in johannesburg president obama earlier today offered his tribute to nelson mandela saying the former south african president earned his place in history through struggle, persistence and faith. president obama spoke for 20 minutes. >> thank you.

>> thank you. thank you so much. thank you. to the mandela family, to president jacob zuma and members of the government, heads of state and government past and present, distinguished guests, it is a singular honor to be with you today to celebrate a life like no other. to the people of south africa.

[cheers and applause] >> people of every race and every walk of life, the world's thank you for sharon nelson mandela with us. his struggle was your struggle. his triumph was your triumph. your dignity and your hope found expression in his life and your freedom, your democracy is his legacy. it is hard to eulogize any man who captured words, the dates that make a life. the essentials truth of a

person, the joy and sorrow, the quiet moments a unique qualities that eliminate someone's soul. through a giant of history, moved a nation toward justice and in the process moved billions around the world. born during world war i in the corridors of power, pablo raised and herded cattle, emerge as the last great liberator of the 20th century. like gandhi he would lead a resistance movement, a movement that had little prospect for success. like dr. king he would give voice to the claims that he trusts and moral necessity of

racial justice. he would endorse brutal imprisonment that began in the time of kennedy and khrushchev and reached the final days of the cold war, emerging from prison, like abraham lincoln, told his country to get together when it wanted to break apart. and like the founding fathers he would have a constitutional order to preserve freedom for future generations, a commitment to democracy and rule of law ratified not only by his election but his willingness to step down from power. [cheers and applause] >> given the sweep ofo cf1 o [cheers and applause]

>> given the sweep of his life, the scope of his accomplishments, the adulation and around the earth, thanks to remember nelson mandela smiling and serene, detached from the tawdry affairs of other men. strongly permit such a life. [cheers and applause] >> instead, sharing with us his thoughts and fears, no miscalculation along with his victory. i am not a saint, he said. unless you think of the st. as a sinner who keeps on trying to. because he could admit

imperfection. he was full of good humor, even mischief despite the heavy burden that he carried. he was not a statue made of marble but a man of flesh and blood, a son and husband, father and a friend. that is how we learn from him and we can learn from him still. in the arc of his life we see a man who earned his place in history through shrewdness and forgiveness and faith. he tells us what is possible not just in the pages of history books but in our own lives as welhim nelson mandela showed us the

power of action, taking risks on behalf of our ideals. perhaps mandela was right that he inherited a proud rebelliousness, stubborn sense of fairness from his father and we know he shared with millions of black and colored south africans the danger of a thousand indignities, a thousand and remembered moments and that the victim that imprisoned the people he felt. like others, in the books. he dior,iplined his anger and channel his desire to fight in organizations and platforms and

ion so men and ao cf1 o women could stand up for their god-given dignity. moreover he accepted the consequences of his actions knowing standing up to injustice carries a price. i fought against white domination and bla mi dominatio. i cherish the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and equal opportuignty. it is an ideal i hope to live for and achieve. it is an ideal for which i am pracceared to die. mandela taught us the power of action and also the power of

ideals. the importance of reason and argument, as the need to stitey not only those who you agree with the also of those who you don't agree with. he understood ideas cannot be contained by prison wall id or extinguished by sniper's bullet. he turned his trial into an ment of apartheid because of his eloquence and passion but also because of his training as an advocate. he used decades of prison to sharpen his argument but also to spread his thirst for knowledge to others in the movement and learned the language and customs of his oppressors so that one day he might better convey to them how their own freedom depends upon his. [applause]

>> mandela demonstrated that ion and ideas are not enough. lho matter how right, they must also be chiseled in the la and iizatitution. he was practical and. testing his belief against circumstance and history. encore principles he was unyielding which was why he cf1 o uld rebut odryers of unconditional release reminding the aparthf apd regime that prisoners cannot enter into a conflict. but as he showed in painstaking negotiations that transfer power and grasping result he was not afraid to compromise for the sake of a larger. and because he was not a real leader of a movement and a skillful politician, the coizatitution that emerged was worthy of this racial democracy.

and majority rights and of a freedom of every south african. and finally he understood he preserve the human spirit. there is a word in south africa at. mbun mbuntu. [cheers and applause] >> were the captors his latest gifts. recognition so we are all bound together in ways that are invisible to the i, is that there is a wondrous to humanity. that we achieve ourselves by sharing ourselves with others and caring for th poe around u d we can never know how much was shaped in a dark and solitary

cell. but we remember large and small, introducing his jailers and honored guests at his inauguration, taking a pitch in a uniform, turignng his family' heartbreak into a call that confronts hiv aids, reveals the depth of his empathy and understanding. he not only embodied mbutu but taught millions to find that truth within themselves. it took not just a prisoner but the duilor as well. to show that you must trust others so that they may trust you. to teach that reconciliation is not a matter of ignoring a cly past but a means of confronting

it with a conclusion and generosity and truth. he changed was but also change heart id to the people of south africa, those he inspired around the globe, a time of mourignng and the time to celebrate a heroic life, i believe it should also prompt each of us to self reflection, with honesty regardless of rcumsumstances we onsst aa questions in my own life? the question i have for mtogelf as a man and as a president, we

know that white south africa, the uignted states, racial subjugation. as was trsti here, it took sacrifice, people known and unknown to see the dawn of a new datred michele and i are ben tuiciarie of that struggle. but in america and in south africana and in countries all around the globe we cannot allow our progress, our work is not yet done. and the victory for uignversal franchise, and more oksarity thn those who came before us that th a are no less important. around the world today we still

see children suffering from hunger and disease and rundown schools, we still see young pere,le without prospects for te futurred around the world today men and women are still imprisoned for their political beliefs and still persecuted for what th a look like and how they worship and who they love. that is happeignng todhe and growing in the quality. there are too many leaders who

play solidarity in the struggle for freedom. and a sense of their own people. and too many of us, too many of us on the sidelines, comfortable in complacency but our voices must be heard. the questions we face today, how to promote equality and justice, how to uphold freedom and human rights, how to end conflict, these things do not have easy answers but there were no easy answers in front of that child born in world war i. nelson mandela reminds us it only seems impossible until it

is done. south africa shows that it is true. south africa shows we can change, that we can choose a world defined not by our differences but by our common hole. we can world defined not by conflict but peace and justice and opportunity. we will never see the likes of nelson mandela and again. and the young people around world, you can see it work like over 30 years ago, students -- the works of nelson mandela and the struggles taking place in this beautiful land, and it

stirred something in me, woke me up to my responsibility for others and myself and send me on an improbable journey that finds me here today and while i will always fall short of mandela's example, he makes me want to be a better man. he speaks to what is best inside of us. after this great liberator, when we return to cities and villages and rejoined our daily routine, let us search for his strength, let us search for his likeness of spirit, somewhere inside of ourselves. when the night grows dark, when in justice weighs heavily on our

hearts, when our best laid plans seem beyond our reach, let us think of mandela and the words that brought him comfort within the four walls of his cell, it matters not how straight negate, how charged the punishments, i am the master of my fate, i am the captain of my soul. what a magnificent stole it was. we will miss him deeply. may god bless the memory of nelson mandela. may god bless the people of south africa. polk aopen bracket cheers and

applause] >> president obama's remarks will be part of the highlight of the memorial service. you can see at 8:00 eastern on c-span2. and now the chair and ranking member of the armed services committee has briefed reporters about an agreement on 2014 defense programs legislation. the compromise offer arises $552 billion in spending for national defence and $80 billion for foreign military operations. the measure is expected to get to the house and moved to a senate vote next week. >> thank you for your patience. is this song? can you hear me? i am from the twenty-fifth district of california, chairman of the house armed services committee and i am joined by chairman levin, chairman of the

senate armed services committee and ranking member in oklahoma, ranking member of the senate committee, adam smith, ranking member of the house is held up and not able -- he has come from washington and is not able to be with us but we have a statement, we circulated that here today. i am pleased to announce working together, members of the house and senate armed services committees have reached an agreement on national defense authorization act for fiscal year 2014. some of you speculated that we wouldn't be able to finish our work this year, we would pass a slimmed down bill with the essentials authorities. i am pleased to say -- i don't want to say we prove you wrong, but that is basically what happened. we are offering a full

comprehensive bill. the house passed our bill out of committee with a vote of 59-2 and passed in. shoes on the floor with a vote of 315-108. the same day they pass their bill out of committee with a vote of 23-3. we know the senator and out of time to fully finish their bill on the floor, but they had worked on the agreement of 25 amendments for republicans, 25 for house before their time ran out. we nabbed last monday, and we were down 87 amendments, 79 of which have been debated and are included on the bill as if they were passed on the senate floor. we worked across party lines and came up with important things in

this bill and it is important to move forward. i will hit on a couple of them. overseas sensitive military operations act that was worked on by vice-chairman foreigna very, and be ability to oversee our forces overseas on whatever jurisdiction they might be operating. sexual assault was probably one of the biggest issues we addressed this year, both bodies of addressed it. mike turner head up the sexual assault caucus. they did tremendous work on it as did joe wilson, chairman of the personnel subcommittee and susan davis, the ranking member. we held numerous hearings and really worked hard on this issue and came up with some good

changes, army grandfather of a young beautiful granddaughter, i am pleased with the things they were able to work out. for prosecution and prevention. that is the cornerstone of our bill. and an issue that has been with us for a long time, we found common ground on detainee's they will not be able to be brought into this country, and certification requirements for transfers have been replaced, negotiated, and a full debate on this. and we are where we are and ran out of time, and national security to finish up this bill

so to bring it to the floor to get it passed and sent to the senate and i would like to turn it over to the ranking member n inhofe to tell us how we are going to proceed from here. >> thank you so much, thanks to adam smith, the ranking member of the house, chairman inhofe, the ranking member of the senate armed services committee for the work they have done to bring us to this point. the hope is that the bill which would incorporate this agreement on the house floor before they leave so that it can come to the senate. that is the first important step before the rules committee. and we would have a chance to

take up the bill. this is the only way to -- this is not the first time this has happened twice in the last five years. we have been in a position where we had to pass a bill that had not been fully amended on the senate floor. we added huge numbers of amendments in committee, a number of amendments that were offered to be cleared on the senate floor. and could not be cleared. there were two amendments in particular in the area of sexual assault. the amendments we wanted to debate, there was objection to it and as mentioned, the bills that we will be offering has the

combination of the senate provisions on sexual assault as well as the house provisions on sexual assault. these are extremely important provisions and they include rather than me going through them you have all list of provisions, would be happy to answer questions that are in this bill on sexual assault to try to end the excessive numbers of sexual misconduct that still occurs. this is why it is so critically important to pass this bill. extended the department's authority to pay combat pay and high djibouti paid for troops in combat. at guantanamo the bill basically takes half of what we did in this senate and passes it and that is to give flexibility to the president to transfer

detainee's from guantanamo to third countries. it maintains the prohibition on transferring detainee's here for trial and detention so we kind of compromise in that way and half of the detainees would be detainees who could be transferred to third world countries, half of the detainee's that would remain in guantanamo because of the prohibition on transferring them to the united states for attention and trial. we also by the way made a major change in the area of the so-called article 32 process. make it more like the grand jury process which has the purpose of determining probable cause rather than discovery proceeding in which for instance in sexual assault cases the defendant, the victim has to appear and be

subjected to cross-examination. the change in article 32 is not limited to sexual assault cases, it is a change in general that met preliminary procedures that takes place in the military. there are critical land withdrawal provisions. three of them had to be extended or the land withdrawals would have terminated and that would have left our military without training facilities. there's a new land withdrawal which would enable the marine corps to expand its training area 29 palms and provide funding authority for the destruction of syrian chemical weapons stockpile and the efforts of the jordanian armed forces to secure the country's border. as many of you know this was on the senate floor for week. senator inhofe and i tried to bring amendments up that have been debated and voted on. unfortunately we didn't have a

great deal of success in that regard. we tried to get consent to limit consideration. and to vote on two sexual assault amendments, the macassar note amendment, and get to a vote. and to adopt 40 cleared amendments as part of a manager package, we could not get consent and tried to address an additional 26 amendments to have them debated and we were unable to do that. the reality is that the house of representatives is going to adjourn on friday. there is no way to get a defense bill passed this year except the way we are proposing. there is no way we can bring up or bring back the bill that was on the senate floor.

consider amendments, passed a bill, go to conference with the house, get a conference report written and have a conference report adopted by the house of representatives before friday. and the only way to reach agreement with house counterparts on of the bill that has a chance of getting passed, without amendment in both houses. and it has happened a couple times before. it is not the way we desire to legislate, a week to offer amendments if we could but that is not the world we live in. world we live in has troops in harm's way, has all the other provisions that are in this bill that are so critical to our

society. as a number of authorities that will expiry, there is a letter we are handing out from general dempsey which went to our leaders today, copies are available for all of you which lists all of the expiring authorities, combat pay is just one of those, 30 of them on this list if we don't pass a bill this year. that is what our hopes are and i want to thank my colleagues and turn this over to senator inhofe. >> i agree with those speakers that this is not the way we like to do it. we got to be point all week ago today when this was the only way we could do it. a couple things from express perspective that are important to consider would be first of all, we considered 87 amendments that have been brought up and we

passed 79 of them. that is hard to do. it would have been hard to do on the floor. we have something in this bill that is significant and we have to consider and you have to consider that the choices are not do you want to have a bill we we are doing it or have one, that is not possible any longer. in december, that is where we are right now, we are going, the house is going to go out at 11:00, to go through a process with amendments in these considerations. that is behind us but what hasn't been said is you run into january. it has never gone into january in the last 52 years. the only two times it has gone

in as the chairman said his when the president vetoed it and that was done not in months or weeks after words but in hours afterwards we overrode the veto. it has to be done. is historically been done in december or long before. we passed our bill months ago. i criticized the leadership in the senate for not allowing us, what is happening in january is significant. generally it takes the average time over the last ten years to consider these bills is ten years, ten days and in that time, we have on the fifteenth i can tell you, i don't have to tell you we will be spending all our time on the sea are and the debt limit. won't be done unless it is done this way and it is critical people have to understand this.

secondly, people have said historically we have been able to go into january. i have another chart here that shows we haven't gone into january. i will say there are two problems we have. one, things are going to expire on december 31st this year and secondly what is going to expire at the time ms. shores as to what comes up now, hazard pay, those of us also have been in the military, there is quite an involved process in making a career decision whether or not you are going to reenlist. reenlistment bonuseses would stop on december 31st. you folks are not as exposed as we are in areas that have taken away the taxes from the school system, impact aid is necessary. that will stop on december 31st.

the things that won't stop right then but will be of major concern i will mention two and respond to questions. any major projects currently under construction will have to stop work and i use an example of a floor that contains 1 thirty-six million to continue construction at the replacement of the command center in nebraska. if this is not authorized then the work will have to stop half way through. on the other hand, you take the 78, something we have already spent $12 billion on. if we are not able to pass this bill it will have to stop. we have 300 voters out of work and all of that but the point is we would be wasting billions of

dollars if we don't do this. it contains a lot of provisions, the previous speakers particular aided, the only way to have a bill is to go ahead and do it this way and i commend, talking about the big 4, we can go today, spent a lot of time going over this, we have -- we are going to do our best to get it passed. >> similar problems when you were trying to manage the bill. and convinced now that this is a good idea to come forward. it only takes one and one of the problems you see, who has a hold

on this idea. >> before they are faced with how they are going to pass this bill. and bring amendments. end these individuals looking at it, no longer the choice, after amendments would be considered, or do we not, do i want a bill or do i not, and do the responsible thing and come to the conclusion that having a bill far outweighs for all the reasons we articulated not having a bill. choices are limited, there is only one. >> also let me add there are many amendments that had been filed in the senate, 30 of which have been cleared, there is a second package of a similar amount which was cleared as well where we reached agreement on

the language in those amendments and providing we could find something in either the senate passed a bill in the committee or the house passed a bill to which those amendments that were cleared could freely, we could then and did wherever we possibly could, at the substance of those amendments to this freestanding bill which is going to be introduced. many people on a partisan basis, many senators, democrats and republicans who filed amendments will find we did a reasonably good job addressing the issues they wanted to address in those amendments in this freestanding bill. is not as though the file amendments were addressed in this bill. many of them are addressed in this bill. >> it is all so a fact that there's not a person in the house of representatives or the u.s. senate that hasn't at one

time or another been upset with process. we are asked at this point. the process we still have disagreements over process but we now have a bill and do you want the bill or not? when we consider the men and women in uniform the overriding principle is get the bill passed. >> are you finding the bill today? have you talked to peter kantor about taking up? what changes in the vote in the house? >> following the bill. i have talked to john boehner today and peter kantor and explained where we are. they didn't know we would have the bill finalized but we are here to announce it today. we have the bill and are ready

to move forward. >> tried to work out this bill in l.a. next few days and simultaneously there are other talks going on. regardless what is going on in this bill what are you hearing from them as they try to get an agreement? there is no agreement yet as it pertains to sequestration. >> we have been fairly busy and the armed service committee, the budget committee are doing their work as we are doing ours. i hope we are both successful. >> this is authorization. >> that is what i said. this piece of legislation pertains to the rest and taking something, what that means. >> like i said, i hope they are successful and we are

successful. >> adamant about the cases that are convening the authority. why did you decide against her and what is your message? >> you got it wrong. we did not decide against her. there was an effort made in the senate to bring her bill and senator mike castle's bill, both amendments at that time, up for a vote. there was objection to it. objection including either of those in the freestanding bill. i think all of us wanted to have votes on both amendments. regardless whether you support one or the other or both, there was an objection. we tried it. was debated for a day and a half in the senate. it is in no one's interest that this not be resolved. they are both free standing bills and they both have filed

them in ways that either of those for both of those can be brought up for a vote as a freestanding bill if senator reid, the majority leader is able to find time to do that and we all want to vote on those two matters. >> on that issue a lot of people are familiar with the long-running debate about military sexual assault. you explain briefly the agreement, what it does for soldiers who have a complaint, and why is that? >> i read many provisions. were you here before? >> i was. >> do you want me to repeat them? >> i don't want you to repeat them but you mentioned how it

works. >> 32 is a separate amendment. an amendment no one objected to unlike the july brent --gilli --gillibrand and mccaskill amendments, there were no objection so weaver able to incorporate that and the subject was addressed in both bills in terms of sexual assault even though article 32 languages not limited to sexual assault it is limited to the use of that procedure for discovery which creates unfair problems for people who are victims or the complainants so we were able to get an agreement that we should address that but we could not get agreement that we would address either the gillibrand or mccaskill amendments but they are free standing bills. i talked to senator harry reid and so has senator gillibrand and senator mccaskill because all of us want to vote on those matters even though in these

bills there are major improvements in the area of sexual assault for instance, will give you some of them again. one of them is retaliation is the crime. threat of retaliation is one of the reasons they do not report. the insults or improper context for sexual behavior. we make in this bill that will be introduced in the next couple days and the senate retaliation is a crime, we also point the direction for commanders to be held accountable for the climb -- the climate inside the units in this bill. we also say that the commander cannot reverse a finding of a court martial. one of the problems which arose was when a commander reversed a finding of a court martial and

it that created a real problem and we have addressed that by saying that that can no longer happening and if a commander does not follow the advice, if there is a sexual assault, complained that is filed, that complaint if it does not lead to a court martial must go to a higher level official, including usually a general officer and can go right up to the secretary of military that is involved. it can go to the secretary of the army, navy or so forth. those are four of the provisions that are in this bill on sexual assault. >> one thing if i can. the detail list as to what is in this bill, i believe, is being circulated or has been circulated to all of you.

press release is out. is it on the web? okay, in terms of the detail on what is in the bill i don't think there's a difference. >> it covered the same provision. >> a description of the provisions in the bill are in both releases even though our release is not out in terms of the rhetoric. >> you have -- >> the leadership, any of their parties -- in the summer and the republicans are ok with it? >> i can't answer that question. i have talked to them. i had two meetings before this and another one after this where we are trying to get as many people here but some aren't even in town yet. you probably know mitch

mcconnell was in an airport not able to get out, have talked to them by phone. i see a totally different change in attitude. now we are at the point where choices are so limited that is either we do it or we don't do it so i can't tell you we have a commitment on the republican side for this. we have more support than we would have during the consideration of the bill. >> on the democratic side i talk to harry reid. he is hopeful that the house will pass the bills this week so we can pick it up next week. there is no realistic way of passing a defense authorization bill this year without this procedure and i emphasize this is the same procedure used twice before in recent years in 2010, and in 2008, i believe. in terms of the democratic

caucus, we will present this to my colleagues. we will meeting with the full armed services committee 15 minutes ago and meeting with the democratic caucus tomorrow. >> yes? >> what responsibility do you have in the leadership? >> they are going to talk to each other. they couldn't make a commitment to talk to each other but hopefully they have done. >> republicans over -- including the incident -- was there any thought at all given to that? >> let me go back over and tell you what we have in the bill will be an improvement over what

we already passed in the house and senate committee and it was an overwhelming problem. we will be okay. we addressed concerns. thank you very much. we need to go get the bill passed, thank you. >> which way did we come from? >> federal offices are closed because of the storm. a live shot of the u.s. capitol building where the senate is coming in. this is live coverage on c-span2. eternal spirit, our souls thirst for you. enable us to hear your songs in the night and be vivified by your spirit. lord, forgive us when we forget how your gracious hand has

preserved our nation, multiplying, enriching and sustaining it. use our lawmakers to keep america strong, reminding them that eternal vigilance is the price for freedom. thank you for drawing us in to the multitude of your mercy, permitting us to experience abundant living as we make a commitment to not deviate from the path of integrity. we pray in your great name, amen. the president pro tempore: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. i pledge allegiance

to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. mr. reid: mr. president? the president pro tempore: the majority leader. mr. reid: i move to proceed to calendar number 243. the president pro tempore: the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 243, s. 1356, a bill to amend the work force investment act of 1998, and so forth and for other purposes. mr. reid: mr. president, following my remarks and those of senator mcconnell, the senate will proceed to executive session to consider the nomination of patricia millett to be u.s. circuit judge for the

d.c. circuit and immediately vote on confirmation of that nomination. senators should expect additional votes this morning with respect to the reconsideration of the cloture vote on the nomination of mel watt to be director of the federal housing finance agency. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the statement that i was prepared to give be inserted in the record as if made. the president pro tempore: without objection, it is so ordered. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the president pro tempore: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: tens of thousands gathered today in so weto to -- soweto today to pay their last respects to a man who symbolized so much to so many. it's not hard to see why. politicians come and go, presidents rise and fall, but nelson mandela was more than a politician, more than just a foreign leader. he was a symbol, a symbol of freedom and hope, not only for

his own people but for all people. but we also remember nelson mandela as a symbol of reconciliation, especially when he had every reason not to be. how many of us could spend so many years in confinement away from people we love with little to do but mull the circumstances of our incarceration and emerge so forgiving toward our captors? to me, it was telling to see that one of the many people paying respects to nelson mandela this week was an afrikaner named cristo brand. the two then struck up an improbable but lasting friendship during mandela's time on robben island. i say improbable because brand was his jailer. the story goes that years after his release from prison, president mandela was attending a ceremony and greeting members

of parliament when he stopped brand -- when he spotted brand out across the room. mandela lifted his arms and announced to everyone that this man had been his warden, but he was also his friend. then he asked brand to join him in a group photo. you must stand next to me, he insisted. we belong together. i think that says it all. nelson mandela could have followed the example of other leaders in the region. he could have led south africa down the path of zimbabwe, but he didn't. he urged his country to embrace inclusion and freedom and democracy instead. he asked his countrymen to stand with him because he knew that as he once said to cristo brand, his people belonged together. so this morning, the senate joins the world in mourning the loss of nelson mandela. may his commitment to freedom and reconciliation continue to

inspire. now, mr. president, on to the business at hand, i want to start out by saying that i think it was important for all of us to get back home and hear from our constituents over the past couple of weeks. i talked with a lot of kentuckians, and i can tell you there is a lot of anxiety and a lot of frustration out there. folks are frustrated and upset by what's happening with their health care under obamacare. and they are outraged at the tactics and the outright deception, deception that led to its passage. it's now clear that the president knew perfectly well that a lot of folks wouldn't be able to keep the plans they had and liked, despite the endless assurances to the contrary they heard from the president himself. many are also starting to realize that the talking points they heard about their premiums and keeping their doctors weren't worth the paper they were written on either. and the response they have gotten from the white house in the face of all this is just as

bad. in the face of all the hardship and disruption this law is causing for literally millions of americans, the white house is defiant. in the face of all these things, the president is trying to convince people that somehow we are the problem. according to the president, the problem isn't the law. the problem is the people who are unhappy with it. the people who are unhappy with it, the president says, is the problem. well, look, this is exactly the kind of thing folks are frustrated with, the idea that washington knows best. so we're going to keep fighting this fight. if anybody needed any proof that big government liberalism doesn't work, they have gotten a clinic over the past two months. it's clearer now than ever that we need to replace this law with common sense, patient-centered reforms that will actually drive down costs and increase innovation. the idea that making our health care system more like the department of motor vehicles will somehow improve the final

product has now been thoroughly discredited, and a thousand presidential speeches aren't going to change that. but here is the larger story. obamacare isn't an isolated case. it may be the most obvious example of this administration's determination to advance its agenda by any means possible, but it's one example of many. the latest example was the administration's complicity in the power grab we saw last month in the senate. news reports suggest that the president who denounced this tactic when republicans thought about it back in 2005 was actively lobbying for it ahead of the majority leader's fateful decision to pull the trigger. so the president and the majority leader were for the protection of minority rights in the senate until they were no longer in the minority. at that point, minority rights, the rules of the senate and the principle of a meaningful check on the executive branch became

an inconvenience, an inconvenience that stood in the way of their desire for more power. as i indicated last month, this was a pure power grab, plain and simple. if the majority party can't be expected to follow the rules, then there aren't any rules. so this was a grave mistake, and it was a grave betrayal of trust since some of the main players had previously vowed they would never do it, and then they did, just as the president had vowed that if you liked your health care, you could keep it, for the president and his enablers in congress, the ends now clearly justify the means, and that's a very dangerous place for us to be. so republicans will continue to speak out against these offenses, against our institutions and against the american people who have a right to expect elected leaders to keep their commitments and respect the rules and our laws. the american people have a right to that.

the american people have given us divided government. the administration needs to accept that fact. they need to work with a government that the people have given them, not the one they wish they had. they need to stop viewing the rules that govern the rest of us as mere suggestions to follow as they wish while the american people are left to suffer the consequences. as i've indicated, we see the results of this mindset most powerfully with obamacare, a law that this administration was determined to force through, determined to force through by hook or by crook, regardless of what half-truths it had to repeat to get there, regardless of which senators it had to coax and cajole. but the pattern didn't end with the law's passage. the administration has repeatedly, repeatedly invoked executive power to change whatever parts of the law prove inconvenient. its friends beg for relief from the law so they carved out special loopholes. statutory deadlines became an irritation, so they waived them.

incorrect promises made to sell the law became an embarrassment, so they changed entire sections on the fly. to many washington democrats, this is all fine, not because they necessarily want to circumvent the law, perhaps, but because they feel justified in doing so if that's what it takes to enact their agenda. we have seen democrats use the same approach with immigration policy, with welfare reform, with recess appointments. we've seen them use it to justify government-sanctioned harassment of entire groups of people over at the i.r.s., and two weeks ago, we saw washington democrats take this ends justifies the means approach to a whole new level entirely, by eliminating, eliminating the right of the minority party to be heard in the senate, something they themselves had once warned against for years when they were in the minority, something the vice president called a naked power grab when he was in the senate. washington democrats changed our

democracy irrevokably, irrevokably. they did something they basically promised they would never do, and to what end? to what end? to pack the courts with judges they expect will rubber stamp the president's partisan agenda, to eliminate one of the last remaining obstacles standing between the president and the enactment of his agenda through executive fiat. in short, in short, because they wanted power that the voters have denied them at the ballot box, they tried to get it another way. so before we all vote this morning, i just want to make sure everybody understands what this vote is all about. two weeks ago, the president and his democratic allies defied two centuries of tradition. their own prior statements, and in the case of some democratic leaders, their own public commitments about following the rules of the senate. they did this for one reason --

to advance an agenda the american people do not want. it's an agenda that runs straight through the d.c. circuit, so now they're putting their people in place. to quote one member of their leadership, one way or another. this vote isn't about any one nominee. it's not about patricia millett. it's about an attitude on the left that says the ends justify the means. whatever it takes. they'll do whatever it takes to get what they want. that's why we're here today and that's why i will be opposing this nomination. washington democrats unfortunately are focusing all of their energy on saying and doing anything, anything it takes to circumvent the representatives of the people, but ultimately, ultimately, they will be accountable to the american people, and the american people will have their say again very soon, sooner than

many of our colleagues might hope. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, patricia ann millett of virginia to be united states circuit judge of the district of columbia circuit. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the question occurs on the millett nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote: